Pretty sure Dems want that, too. So, the Reps want different solutions to that problem, or they misidentify the problem. Yes?

Not really. Sure, Democrats want price transparency and efficiency - after all, who wouldn't? But that's not really something they diagnose as the source of the problems of health care. If everyone had perfect knowledge of all prices offered by all healthcare providers and all such services could be purchased with pretty high levels of efficiency, it wouldn't provide universal access to health care.

"Friction" is a huge problem, IMO. For example, IMO, putting insurance companies between me and my provider is a friction. Those companies expect to get paid. And many of them report to shareholders, which means a P&L statement that better be more P than L. So, the shareholders expect to get paid, too.

Sure, in much the same way that car insurance companies get between you and your mechanic. Just far more often, because we deliberately run nearly all of our routine health care through insurance companies for tax purposes. But that's not really the friction that the GOP is concerned with.

Didn't Reagan get the tort reform rolling in the 80s?

A little, but most Republicans believe it's still a massive problem, and a source of significant savings to be had.